


Appeasement

by outinthewind



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Politics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-07 05:01:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5444231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/outinthewind/pseuds/outinthewind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The feud won't end if someone from his side doesn't show humility. Fortunately, Hiruzen is in a position that allows such luxury. </p><p>Or, the one where the Third names Uchiha Itachi his successor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sarutobi Hiruzen

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what I'm doing, except I may have read a fic with this premise waaaay back in FF.net. I am sorry for the rip off please slap me if I'm straight up plagiarizing.

The Council squabbles likes children trying to blame each other for spilled milk. Except instead of acknowledging a shred of personal responsibility, they just can't agree on which outsider must be blamed.

"The Uchiha compound has been the most devastated area of the village," argues Myrrzha.

"So what?" challenges Doubo. "I wouldn't put it past that swarm of conniving bastards to raze their own property to the ground just so the don't look guilty."

"Don't be absurd!"

"Who's absurd? Or did you all not notice how almost no Uchiha died in the attack?"

"Ten of their jounin died trying to hold back the Kyuubi!"

Hiruzen never before felt so old. His bones rattle even when he doesn't move. The white robes of the Hokage do little to warm his chest, though it's the middle of spring and quite warm. His pipe dries his throat without granting him even a fleeting moment of serenity. The afternoon sunlight grates the corner of his eyes. Every time one of the elders opens their mouth, Hiruzen has to suppress an urge to strangle them.

"When have I ever been a coddler of those self-important Uchiha bastards?" asks Myrrzha. "But I won't let my distaste cloud my better judgment. One of our outside enemies planned this attack with every intention to scapegoat the Uchiha."

"And what does it matter? They _look_ guilty. If we do nothing, we'll look weak and complacent!"

Four years. Four short years that Hiruzen hadn't enjoyed nearly as much as he would have if he'd known they'd be the only ones he'd get. And Minato had shown such promise, if not in mending the rift between the Uchiha and the Senju, or even the Uchiha and the Hyuuga, then in ameliorating the dire financial straits that Konoha had been plunged into during the last years of the Third Secret War. Four years of attracting skilled laborers to Konoha, of revitalizing the village's infrastructure, of growing their ranks, and establishing dominance over Fire Country. Four years of progress that would crumble if Hiruzen could not wring enough strength out of his thinning bones.

"And what do you suggest we do? Cripple one of our oldest clans?"

"Yes! Make an example out of them. Show the world our strength."

"Are you sure you're not a spy from Mist?"

"Mist has survived, hasn't it?"

"So have we."

"And how many of these attacks do you think we can take?"

Hiruzen wonders how many more disappointments _he_ can take. Already, he'd had to talk the council out executing Minato and Kushina's baby to appease terrified villagers.

"Nobody's suggesting that we kill the Uchiha," says one of the elders.

Good thing too, since Uchiha Shisui is among Hiruzen's ANBU guard during this odious meeting. ANBU are supposed to be more spirit than man while guarding the Hokage, but Hiruzen has no doubt that Shisui would abandon his post instantly if he thought the village was on the verge of descending on his family.

"There's more than one solution to any problem," says the voice Hiruzen has been dreading. Danzo. "The Uchiha can be punished without a descent into Mist levels of brutality."

"Brutality _is_ the point of punishment," says Doubo.

Hiruzen makes a mental note to rid himself of the man as soon as possible.

"Hardly," says Danzo. "Prevention is the point of punishment. In this case, we must prevent the Uchiha from ever trying something like this again while maintaining our hold on Sharingan."

"Trying something like what?" demands Myrrzha. "We still have no proof that they're behind this."

The villagers don't care about proof. Certainly not now, when the wounds are so fresh. What they want is a scapegoat to punish, a symbolic gesture of justice. The Uchiha will want the same, especially if they are innocent, which Hiruzen hopes they are. If only Kushina hadn't insisted on having a baby . . . Hiruzen aches for that poor child already. The village will despise him.

"Will everyone stop worrying about what other villages will make of this attack and consider our clans for a moment?" says an elder. "How do you think the other clans will react if we throw the Uchiha to the wolves so easily."

"Bah. The clans hate each other."

The truest thing that has been said all meeting. Clan hatred has brought more despair to Konoha than all the Secret Wars combined. A clan feud has brought the Nine-Tails beast to Konoha, though not in the way the elders assume. Or even the Uchiha, who must be huddling together in their razed compound, licking their wounds and waiting for the village's retaliation. Just as Madara planned, no doubt. Ninja are, above all else, predictable.

"Nobody will be thrown to any wolves," says Danzo. "But someone must be made to suffer for this. Since the Uchiha were charged with policing the village, it might as well be them."

"No," says Hiruzen.

The council freezes, as if they'd forgotten that Hiruzen is back in the room. As their leader. Danzo's gaze is on him, but Hiruzen refuses him the courtesy of an acknowledgement.

"A single Uchiha has done this," says Hiruzen, "one that refuses to stay in the grave. He did this with every expectation that Konoha would turn around a inflict further humiliation on his clansmen. I will not play his game."

"Sarutobi," says Doubo in open belligerence. "Speak clearly."

"Even with their diminished numbers," says Hiruzen, "the Uchiha have the means to cripple the village. They're a founding clan and know all our secrets, even the ones we've forgotten."

"If that's the case," says Danzo, "then how do you know they won't attack preemptively?"

"Because I know and will exploit their most vicious weakness: pride. I will name an Uchiha my successor."


	2. Uchiha Shisui

Ninja are supposed to expect the unexpected, but Shisui never expected this shit. As a matter of fact, he's not ruling out some late-onset brain damage from the last S-rank he went on. That missing-nin almost caved in one of his skull bones, after all.

"Come down from the shadows," Hokage-sama says. "We need to talk."

There's a four member ANBU squad guarding Hokage-sama at all times, but no one doubts who the man is calling out. Shisui slips into the penumbra, then kneels.

"The rest of you, leave us." Some might hesitate, but not long enough that Hokage-sama has to repeat himself. In an instant, Shisui is alone with him, or as alone as anyone can ever be in a hidden village. Shisui straightens. "What do you suppose will happen now?" asks Hokage-sama as smoke rises from his ever present pipe.

"Your enemies will call in every favor they're owed to see if they can take you out; probably not the best time to send your guards away," says Shisui. "A few will try to goad the Uchiha into some kind of riot, but enough will sell this conversation to our Elders, so that won't pan out. The Hyuuga will wait and see; not so sure about the rest of the clans."

"I didn't send all my guard away," says Hokage-sama.

"I'm flattered, but there's only so much I could do in a clean fight."

"I suspect I can do more than enough for the both of us," says Hokage-sama.

Probably, but maybe not. Shisui's not a fan of maybes. How his head hasn't exploded with anxiety yet is a miracle that should drive him to religion.

"Do you think this will work?"

Shisui has no fucking idea. He never bothered to consider the possibility of an Uchiha face up in the monument because . . . because. Shit. All the whining from his clan must have gotten to him. The Uchiha are glorious. The village is full of ungrateful fucks. The Sharigan is the bestest bloodline line limit ever, and the Hyuuga smell. And the Uchiha would always, _always_ languish in the shadows, struggling between a sense of loyalty and a drive to show everyone that--fuck them--you can only hit a dog so much before it turned around and tried to bite your fucking head off.

"Well?" says Hokage-sama.

"I don't know," admits Shisui. The Uchiha elders would certainly be vindicated, if suspicious for the next five generations still. It would all depend on . . . too much shit to enumerate.

"The Yamanaka, Nara, and Cho clans will support me, though I doubt they'll be thrilled that I made such a decision without consulting them first."

"Why didn't you?" asks Shisui.

"It was a heat-of-the-moment kind of thing," shrugs Hokage-sama.

Well, _that's_ fucking reassuring. Had the man gone senile?

"A moment of clarity, if you will."

"I'm sure people will have other words for it," says Shisui. He'll spare no manufactured deference for a man who might have thrown Konoha into a into a hurricane of drama and bullshit murders on a whim.

"Not all good decisions require extensive ruminations," says Hokage-sama. "First, I need to have a specific heir when I make my case to the Clans."

Shisui couldn't well produce one from thin air.

"Interested?" asks Hokage-sama.

"Are you _high_?" demands Shisui. Then he bows because, shitty decisions or not, Sarutobi Hiruzen is still old enough to be his grandfather. "I mean, no."

An Uchiha as Hokage, Shisui _might_ have conceived at some point if drunk enough, but _himself_ as The Fifth? Not even after a personality transplant that made him as delusional as a hooker that would fall for a john would have made him consider it.

"Do you think you wouldn't be strong enough?"

Shisui supposes that if he stopped taking missions, running errands for his clan, appeasing drunken douchebags while on police duty, worrying about his aging grandparents, eating, showering, and masturbating, and dedicated every fiber on his being to training, he would rise to the level of a Kage. Maybe. But the thought of spending a lifetime navigating the bullshit politics of running a hidden village--more than he already did--makes him want to vomit out his intestines at Hokage-sama's feet. Also . . .

"I'm too old to be named anyone's heir."

"Point," agrees Hokage-sama, "though your impeccable tenure in ANBU would do wonders for your image."

"First of all, it's not that impeccable," says Shisui, trying really hard not to care about how disrespectful he sounds. "And it wouldn't if it was."

"Then who do you suggest?"

Shisui considers which of his cousins to throw to the wolves. It's not like anyone who would actually _want_ the job would be acceptable. "You'll need someone close to Madara's direct descendants if you really mean to shut up my whinier family members," says Shisui. "Another reason it can be me, by the way."

"Someone that close to Madara might care more about the Uchiha than Konoha as a whole."

Yes, but he should've thought of that before dropping the bomb on the Council. "So get someone young enough that they haven't swallowed the noble dissenter spiel yet." Shisui has no better suggestions.

"Mikoto has a infant, doesn't she?"

"That's _too_ young." Shisui shakes his head. Babies freak him out. Sasuke waves his little arms around as if unaware that they belong to him. Shisui's not totally convinced that he, or any other baby, is fully sentient. "He could grow up to be brilliant and loyal to Hidden Leaf, a dumb entitled fucker, or anything in between. Plus, that name thing will be shady if you name him your heir, I'm sure."

"That's such a minor detail," argues Hokage-sama. "And Sasuke is such a common name."

"True," agrees Shisui, "but nobles see things into the stupidest shit."

"That foul mouth would have to go," says Hokage-sama, smiling.

"It can't be me," insists Shisui just in case Hokage-sama is not just making an ill-timed joke.

"Mikoto's first-born is still young."

". . . Technically," says Shisui. It'd just been the tail-end of the Third Secret War that Itachi lived through, but joining Konoha's ranks soon after it was over hadn't been much better.

"Do you have objections about him?"

A million, but not a single one that would mean shit to anyone who didn't care about Itachi, the Human Being more than they cared about Itachi, the Clan Heir. The Elders, and his parents, would agree to it instantly.

"I've met the boy a few times," says Hokage-sama. "Clever, unassuming little thing. He will have to do."

Yes, he would. Shisui couldn't conjure a single name from this latest crop of clan brats. For the first time, he actually hated Hokage-sama a little bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would just like to remind everyone that I don't know what I'm doing, and tenses are hard.
> 
> Also, there was a double post for a second there.


End file.
